Movidiam: New Networking & Project Management Platform for Filmmakers

There is a new online platform called Movidiam which aims to be a creative network that allows brands, agencies and filmmakers to connect, collaborate and work together on films and projects. It is designed as an online tool that may help filmmakers streamline production processes and bring film project management into a more visual, flexible and social realm.

It’s nice to see what problems they are trying to tackle: Anyone who has ever had to produce a film or video knows the demands at hand. Especially with a new client base or ad agency, pre-production can be grueling as several creatives and marketing execs are constantly looking over your shoulder. They may demand proposal revisions, new paper/pdf deliverables and even change in concept, which could mean a total redraft on your end. And that’s all before the first day of shooting.

My first impression of Movidiam from what I’ve been able to glean off their promo and website is quite positive. The site has a great design. Its neat and slick-look also comes with many useful tools and features that allow you to budget, pay and track your project. As a filmmaker you can create a profile for free and join a pool of creatives that can be picked from the sea of collaborators out there. I see this as a kind of networking vimeo profile page links to real-time projects, production companies along with testimonials and ratings.

Here are some of the features Movidiam offers, taken from their site:

Connect globally with brands, agencies and filmmakers

Profile work and create amazing portfolios

Manage all your projects and organize teams in one place

Create dynamic call sheets with real-time updating possibilities

Manage and Assemble film teams for

Pay and get paid using our secure payment system

Pay and get paid using our secure payment system

Manage Video revisions: Feedback and project communications in one place

Become part of the global creative filmmaking community

I have joined my share of networking websites (crew united, IMDB Pro, etc.) and it can be a painful experience. Linking all your projects together, waiting for the site admin to ‘approve’ them, gauging which projects to mention and which ones to keep in the background. In the end, there may be a nice list of projects you’ve done, but maybe not a full expression of who you are as a filmmaker, your visual style and personality.

For those of us who have created website portfolios and blogs to promote ourselves, you know how time consuming it can be and just what happens when it all starts ‘expiring’ (old content and films on your site). Movidiam seems like a great alternative for you to create a more personality based portfolio, visually. As a producer then, imagine this “visual browse-ability” to search for crew as opposed to many of the networking sites that only seem to offer search engine-like queries. In the end, you are looking for a person who will exceed your expectations and work well with others.

After all, we’ve all grown weary of the “I-won’t-hire-that-guy-again” experience.

Here are a few more insights into the possibilities of the tools:

The idea of being able to track your budget realtime and have the option to show your client visually where things stand — without spreadsheets — is great.

You can create a timeline and schedule to make sure that everyone is up to speed on when, where and what – production-wise.

You can pay cast & crew from Movidiam directly.

Another feature that will be super handy is a virtual call sheet option. Anyone who has ever had to stay up late nights to create a next day call sheet has experienced the spontaneities of the sudden changes that occur morning. Usually, you end up throwing away all the printed out ones, redraft an email explaining how something changed, attach a new .pdf and hope that the cast & crew checks their inbox before leaving the house. So yeah, the idea that you can update a call sheet in real-time and others can just see it immediately. Nice.

You will have to assess whether or not Movidiam is for you. Though it is free to create your profile, if you want to have full access to all the project management tools you will need to sign up as a ‘Project Pro’ for $25/month. Will Movidiam as a Pro User be worth the $300/year? You’ll have to be the judge of that. You can pre-register now to receive two months’ free access to ‘Project Pro’, which lets you use all of the project management features.

There are certainly many more questions to be answered about the tool. Cinema5D will be sitting down with Movidiam CEO George Olver in our “On the Couch” series along with Philip Bloom at IBC. Stay tuned.